After Baylor’s first No. 2 loss Saturday night, a 71-58 loss to No. 17 Kansas, coach Scott Drew acknowledged that the COVID-19 protocols left the Bears out for 21 days are the “kryptonite” of your basketball team.
“We were the No. 1 shooting team in the country and we will be back,” Drew said. “But even Superman has kryptonite. And I guess the COVID protocols are ours.”
Baylor, who entered the game shooting 43.2% from a distance of 3 points, went 6 for 26 behind the arc. The Bears shot just 8-for-25 from behind the arc in their first game back, a sold-behind win at Iowa State on Tuesday.
This was Baylor’s first week after six consecutive postponements due to COVID-19 issues within the program and the Big 12 protocols. The Bears practiced last Sunday for the first time in nearly three weeks.
“Anyone with COVID would know that when you come back you probably weren’t 100%,” Drew said. “For people who didn’t [have COVID] and I have not been able to practice or exercise, I would think this is rust or other areas. The last one is that it’s a chemistry game, just like football. You can exercise with quarterbacks and running whatever you want, until you exercise with the line and receivers – it’s also a time game. At the end of the day, you have to shoot. And normally, when the legs go, it’s hard to do 3 … Everything will come and we’ll get back to that pace.
“Again, two plus two equals four. A lot of people take breaks, but they may not have people who have COVID and, if that’s the case, they work every day, they don’t have snowstorms. They practice again. return time is much faster than other teams “.
Baylor keeper Jared Butler, a Bears ’Wood Award nominee, came off the field at 2 for 9 and scored five points before making a foul. MaCio Teague (18 points) and Davion Mitchell (13 points) had stretches where they entered a rhythm on the offensive tip, but shot a combined 12-on-35 from the ground.
Marcus Garrett took on most of the responsibility of protecting Butler, who had 30 points in the first game between the two teams earlier in the season.
“First, you have to give credit to Marcus,” Drew said. “Secondly, our staff, we have to do a better job putting it in better positions. Then thirdly, you’ll have nights where you don’t shoot well. And it was tonight.
“They’ve done a good job too on guys getting better and better,” Drew added later. “The guys on the rotation are a lot cleaner and cleaner, which you expect. We had three weeks in which we got worse and they had three weeks in which they improved, so we have to catch up.”
The game went back and forth for most of the first half, with Kansas gaining a seven-point lead before Baylor struggled. Kansas gained a three-point lead at the break, and Baylor never came close to the second half. David McCormack dominated the paint in the first half and finished with 20 points and three rebounds before fouling, while Garrett contributed 14 points to the offensive final and Christian Braun had 11 points.
McCormack’s first 14-point lead set the tone immediately; Kansas was going to use their size advantage against Baylor’s front court and the Bears would have to adjust. They stopped him after the break, but it was too late.
“Let’s give him credit for really helping Kansas, especially the last six, seven games that have really been playing at a high level,” Drew said. “They’ve done a great job getting the ball. But he’s done a great job being strong, demanding, being physical, finishing … He deserves a lot of merit for that.”
Kansas dominated the boards, beating Baylor 48-28, including 14 offensive rebounds that turned into 17 second-chance points.
“I feel like we’re locked in,” Garrett said after the game. “We knew we had to bounce and defend to win the game. It was something important that we highlighted all week.”
Kansas has now won six of its last seven games, with the only loss coming Tuesday in overtime in Texas. The Jayhawks have kept seven opponents in a row less than a point per possession, and Baylor’s 58 points on Saturday were the lowest the Bears have scored all season.
After looking like an early start to the NCAA tournament, Kansas plays as well as any Big 12 team entering the postseason.
“We finished 12-6 in a ridiculously tough league when we sucked for three weeks,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “These three weeks are coming out and we’ve had a steady performance. Of course, you can’t do that. But to play the whole game board and play everyone twice, a lot of teams across America would love to be 12 years old. 6 in the toughest league in America. “
Baylor could drop from No. 2 in the country in next week’s AP poll for the first time all season, and the Bears have a tough three-game stretch to end the regular season: in West Virginia on Tuesday, at home against Oklahoma State on Thursday, home against Texas Tech on Sunday.
“At the end of the day, they came here and outscored us in some aspects of the game and we lost,” Teague said. “We have to be tougher than that. We have to be better.”
ESPN’s Myron Medcalf contributed to this report.